After several years of interviewing people for my newspaper and magazine columns, I became what I call a detail person. I was a better listener…more attuned to what the person I was interviewing was sharing with me.
I found that this has helped me tremendously in business. For example if I speak to a client, I will first ask about something they shared with me during our last conversation.Perhaps a relative was ill or a baby was born.Whatever it was…. The client is always impressed that I remembered!
Sounds wonderful…but I can’t pretend that I have an amazing memory.I write everything down …right next to the client’s name with the date of our conversation. For someone in the sales and service industry this is a great way to open a conversation. It shows the customer that you care about them …not just their business.
